Find out which organisations work to improve the quality of food in schools
The current standards for school food in England were introduced by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) (now the Department for Education (DfE)). between September 2006 and September 2009.
These standards are set out in The Education (Nutritional Standards and Requirements for School Food) (England) Regulations 2007
www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2007/2359/contents/made
As amended by The Education (Nutritional Standards and Requirements for School Food) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2008
www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/1800/made
Second amendment by The Education (Nutritional Standards and Requirements for School Food) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2011
www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2011/1190/made
The Department for Education allocates the budgets for school food to local authorities. Responsibility for the provision of school food lies with the local authority or directly with the school governors if the school meals budget has been delegated (as is the case for all secondary schools and the majority of primary schools in England). This includes ensuring that planned food and drink provision meets the school food standards.
Departmental advice explaining how legislation applies to school food in England, and the role of local authorities and school governing bodies is available from the Department for Education website:
www.education.gov.uk/aboutdfe/advice/f00197541/departmental-advice-for-school-food-in-england
The School Food Trust and Children’s Food Trust
The School Food Trust was established by the Government in 2005. We were tasked with helping schools to implement some of the world’s toughest national standards for school food, and with tackling the many other issues involved with giving children a great experience at lunchtime. Now a national charity and specialist advisor to Government on school meals, children’s food and related skills, demand for our support has grown and we work with our new Community Interest Company the Children’s Food Trust to improve food for children in a range of settings. Both organisations share the vision that all children should have the balanced diet, cooking skills and food education that will help them reach their full potential as adults.
The School Food Trust has produced guidance for schools and caterers, to support them to interpret and implement the national school food standards. Copies of this guidance are available to download free of charge from the Trust’s website: www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/the-standards
Local authorities, schools and governors: Various legislation, including the Education Acts of 1996, 1998, 2002 and 2006, and the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, outline the duties of school governors and local authorities in the provision of school food. In summary, the responsibility for the provision of school meals lies with local authorities or directly with schools if the local authority has delegated the school meals budget. This includes ensuring that the planned food provision meets the school food standards. In practice this involves deciding what dishes can be served, what ingredients to use, where water should be made available and setting any necessary snacking policies.
Departmental advice explaining how legislation applies to school food in England, and the role of local authorities and school governing bodies is available from the Department for Education website:
www.education.gov.uk/aboutdfe/advice/f00197541/departmental-advice-for-school-food-in-england
The Food Standards Agency and the National Governors Association have produced guidance for school governors on food policy in schools titled ‘Food Policy in Schools: a Strategic Policy Framework for Governing Bodies’ which was revised in September 2007, and is available to download from:
www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/foodpolicygovernor2.pdf
Ofsted It is the responsibility of the governing body to ensure that the school meets its statutory obligations, including those related to school food. Ofsted school inspections focus on teaching quality, pupils’ achievement, the quality of leadership and pupils’ behaviour and safety. The inspection model is not primarily compliance based and inspectors are not required to specifically assess a school’s adherence to the school food standards during their routine visits. If however, inspectors become aware of concerns, these can be taken into account as part of the inspection.
